The End Game
by Gus Calvo-Simmons
Summary: Imagine Fortnite Player Versus Player if it was a reality show? Where people around the world are obsessed to see who dies and who lives. Within this story we are going to take the role of a group of people who are trying to survive the new deadly game.
1. Prologue: The War Zone

Prologue

The War Zone

Amalia was sitting with her team, they were hiding below the bridge on the Graveyard; they knew they had six hours to reach the safe zone, it was the Squads competition that started at 3PM and had a duration of six and half hours; every hour, the map would shrink, and it would show the player the zone where the goal was located, the objective was simple "the last team standing, would be the winner; and a second rule was anything goes"

The name of the show was Fortnite and it was a smash hit around the world; many countries would send their teams, which could be as big as four or as little as two; on the competition different teams could create alliances to overpower more experienced players, but at the end whenever they reach the goal zone they would have to fight to see which was the last one standing.

You are probably wondering, why this game became so popular worldwide? That even Yotube secured the exclusive rights to stream it; the answer is simple "it was a battle royale, where the players would have to collect weapons and kill each other" People were going crazy for such idea, such idea that they never saw before. You are probably wondering what is the prize? US$10 Million dollars!

It was insane, but due an economic crisis in 2008 that the world never recovered, US$10 Million dollars was more than enough to set anyone for life and countries around the world started to gather their teams to participate in the deathmatch. Amalia's team only consisted in three people, counting her. The other two where two other players who joined her by a lottery selection as she was one of the players who wasn't sponsored by any government or corporation.

The waiting area was an adjacent island from the main island, there were two adjacent islands who acted as landing docks but on this round of the Fortnite, only one was being used. A plane was transporting the 100 players that their main goal was to jump on a parachute, find weapons and kill each other. Such an easy ordeal, yet it came with the implication would you kill someone for money? And the answer was yes, the world saw for the first time in 2021 that people would kill other people for a ridiculously sum of money, let's face it "everyone has a price on their heads".

"We are in Haunted Hills" Said Amalia to Souza, the only guy on her team. He was around in his late 20's maybe early 30's? He said he was from Minas Gerais and that he lived with his parents and sibling, he passed the preliminaries in Brazil with 10 other people that he knew they were going to compete on the Fall Season of the year, but he got designated to participate sooner than the others.

"Did the satellite finally showed the designated area?" He asked with some nervous on his voice.

"No, at least not yet" Amalia was in her mid-40's, she was one of the oldest competitors on the game, her motivation to go as she described "to feel the thrill of being alive, whenever danger was lurking in every corner. She had one daughter, but her baby daddy was completely absent up to the point she didn't knew anything about him for 10 years; besides her daughter her only other relatives were her parents.

There was silence in the Haunted Hills, the location of the graveyard; Amalia wasn't to happy to stay in one spot, especially on that was at the border of the map and she knew being on that position could be an elimination by default, but they still had another 45 minutes before they had to start to go on the run.

The last member of the team was a small lady named Alexa, they didn't know too much about her, except she seemed to be comfortable with Barret REC7 type rifles, she had black hair and a look that made her pass by a 16 years old girl; albeit neither Amalia and Souza were sure how old she was. She was standing on the top of the graves, looking for any other ambushers.

Suddenly, she shot into the horizon. Amalia and Souza quickly pointed to her where they were looting, she ran as quickly as she could. Another team was approaching to the graveyard.


	2. Chapter One: Drowning in the Night

Chapter One

Drowning into the Night

The Landing zone was almost full, there were a total of 89 people, teams from ranging between two and four individuals from almost every single nationality in the world. There was fear in the environment as no one knew who was going to be the first team eliminated or the first person to hit the dust. There were rumors that the last 10 people would be selected randomly as they didn't had an affiliation to any team and a solo player would be joining in the squads to break the number even as the producers couldn't find an equal number of contestants that passed the preliminaries.

Palma Martinez was 19, also she was one of the younger players selected for the battle royal; she was quite petite also by being around 4'9'' and extremely pale as if she was a ghost. She was sitting with her team which consisted on other three people and her being the leader of the team, but she was concerned what to do on the field as they never developed a strategy to win the game.

Not far away from her, the last bus arrived to the docking station, the last 10 people where there, 9 of them where in a team and one of them was a single player who was asked to join to make the number even. She was analyzing them, to see if she could spot the single player as that would be the easy kill. She knew by first hand that the last 10 people where paired in a lottery as they didn't have proper sponsorship and language barrier could become an issue; she was trying to remember their faces, so she could kill them first.

She saw a team composed by two women and one man, the man had a heavy Portuguese accent and the two women seemed to be also Americans, maybe from Tennessee? She wasn't sure, as she only met two people from that State, while she was living in California with her mother after they moved from Bayamon. The second team consisted of two people she couldn't identity their nationality, but she assumed to be from somewhere in Southeast Asia, the last two teams consisted on a girl's duo and three boys.

She started to wonder if the single player made a pact with one of the teams, so they wouldn't be suspected to be the weakest link of the game and an easy prey. All the players were waiting for the instructions until they heard the voices of the hosts.

"Hello people! We are your hosts Mako and Samara" They appeared from a screen in the middle of the sky. Mako was a young woman, with black hair but also she had a heavy Quebecois accent even if she spoke English and Samara wasn't too different albeit she had some vague accent that was probably from Ireland.

"The rules as you know are simple! the last team standing wins, it doesn't matter if you are the last member of your team, it means your team will win" Said Samara while dancing on the screen, showing as if she was happy.

"That means the money will be yours! And that is exciting ladies and gents. You need to collect your ammunition and weapons, also there will be health kids around, which some of them could contains injections of adrenaline and a few other goodies if you find yourself wounded" Mako was also showing the same enthusiasm as Samara, which it gave Palma a creepy vibe that they were waiting for the carnage.

"Every 60 minutes thanks to the fabulous De Mol Corporation, which also hosts this event around the world, we are going to implement a barrier around the island, that will shrink and will force you to go to the designated safe area in which the last team or player will be considered the winner of the tournament." Said the host in perfect sync.

"There is also one little thing you need, two of them, well some. The first one if you get caught in the barrier you will be pulverized or something like that; the second one you will see navy ships around the island, those aren't there to help you as they are designated for two scenarios, in case there is no winner by the designated time (6 PM) of tomorrow evening they will bombard the entire island and if you fall on the ocean because you miscalculated they have orders to execute any of you, even if you are dragged by a breeze… you have ten minutes to board the modern transportation device, which is a bus with balloons and rocket launchers" Mentioned Mako in a sarcastic tone.

Palma was freaking out, she wasn't expecting to be such a brutal game; even if she saw some fragments of previous tournaments, she never imagined it was designated to leave as little survivors as possible, she was really freaking out. The bus started to take flight, and everyone got their parachutes and maps, she spoke with her team to land on Tomato Town and from there kill anyone even if it had to be with their bare hands.

To everyone's surprise, all of them where given a weapon, it was a pickaxe, it could be used to gather supply such as wood or try to make themselves a fort or anything, it could be used to kill. Palma was thinking about the brutality that was going to start but she was thinking that she was doing that for fame and to gain political power when she went back to Puerto Rico.

"Everyone. In 60 seconds the bus will destroy itself, is time to jump" Said a male voice coming from the audio system that was inside the bus.

"Wait, when we reach Tomato Town, we will jump" Mentioned Palma to her team.


	3. Chapter Two: Desperation

Chapter Two

Desperation

One minute later, everyone was already out of the flying vehicle, some of them were still on their parachutes waiting to land. The war zone was already taking place, teams were on the look for weapons, ammo and health kits. Amalia and her team where landing on the Haunted Hills, being one of the last teams to jump; she was amazed on how the island was quite big, but overall, she was trying to see where they were? Her first impression that they were near Iceland as she spotted the shore from the other island extremely familiar; similar as some thermal baths she visited a couple of years before.

The island where the game was being held was incredible, it was decorated as an abandoned island, she spotted some locations she saw on previous games such as Tomato Town and Anarchy Acres. It seemed everyone landed safely from what Palma saw, but to her surprise as soon she placed foot in the island a pre-recorded message that showed Mako appeared from her communication device.

"Dear player, we are experimenting with a new construction device; in the basic kit that you were given there is a small rectangular device, that will work along the pickaxe, yes it's also a weapon but it will help you store materials to construct a fort… we aren't going to tell you how it works because we want you all have fun" The message ended as soon it appeared; Palma was confused but as soon she had the chance she found out a small box attached on her parachute and, when she opened there was a small tablet, it contained a sliding screen with every single possible material they could store and on the bottom the combinations they could use.

"This is cool; and it seems to be easy to use" She thought. "I need to tell everyone that one to gather materials and the rest we will protect they"

Amalia, Souza and Alexa landed in the graveyard; they started to explore and saw there was nobody around; everyone seemed to land south of their location, so it gave them some advantage over the other teams. Amalia was frantic to find ammunition and gun as she was scared to be one of the first one to die and not having a chance to compete.


	4. Chapter Three: No Mercy

Chapter Three

There is no Mercy

You always wondered how are you going to die? Is a horrible scenario to think, as the most peaceful dead would be in your own room, surrounded by your loved ones, is difficult to tell? Marley's team was one of the four teams from the United States that classified to the game, they were in the Tilted Towers section, which according to the game guide it was once a thriving commercial district, it became desolated after the event… of course, that was just the game lore.

The scenario was composed of a small-scale city, with high rises and stores on the bottom of the building; it was the perfect scenario for long distance snippers, but for someone with little experience that could be their end-game. Marley was quite tall, she was almost 6'0 but also she was quite bulky, she had brown reddish hair. She was 25 years old at the moment she joined the game; her team mates were a guy named Richard Daly from Florida, which he was also one of the oldest contestant as he was 65 years old, then Kayla M. who was from Georgia, she was one of the youngest by 14 years old, which she only joined due a technicality that wasn't well know and the last member was someone known as Mephisto, much of his information or looks where unknown as he wore a complete body suit that covered his appearance.

The small scenario was composed on three avenues and six roads, there were amenities around, but they were hiding on the clock tower, it was the best spot to detect any intruders and the height gave them some advantage, but their mistake became obvious because the tower wasn't taller than any of the surrounding hills.

All of them where in the top, looking at the different four directions, by that moment they found some good weapons, such as suppressed pistols but their ranges weren't that wide. They were extremely tense, as they knew there were other players who won previous tournaments and they didn't even knew what they were doing.

"Nobody that I can see on the east side" Said Richard to his teammates.

"Same on the southside, nobody yet, I can hear gun shots coming from a distant location" Said Kayla.

"I can see some explosions coming from Loot Lake" Marley mentioned "It seems much of the other teams landed there but according to the tablet, nobody has been eliminated yet" An explosion came from the ground, that it shock the tower; they didn't moved, they were paying attention to the grounds but nobody was there, they assumed that the attack could be coming from one of the hills, they opted to take shelter against the walls and take notice of any suspicious activity.

Marley moved her weapon to see any possible intruders on the surroundings, she didn't spotted nobody, but someone aimed and shot her hand, making her weapon to fall down to the grounds on the streets.

"Fuck! It hurts, it fucking hurts" She screamed, while Richard was trying to stop the bleeding.

"The person is moving down to the basketball compound!" Kayla screamed.

"Kayla get the fuck down now!" Marley screamed in between her pain. A single bullet from a sniper that was hiding in the hills perforated her head.

"The first person got killed" Said Souza.

"Now there are 99 players on the competition" replied Alexa in a somber tone.

"I hope we survive, I really do" Said Souza in a somber tone.


	5. Chapter Four: My Ghosts

Chapter Four

My Ghosts are in Flesh and Bones

"Ambush! Amalia, Souza, take shelter!" Alexa screamed.

Amalia and Souza, quickly went to the roof of the mausoleum, it was a four-member team, and they were heavily armed, they were also testing the new quick construction device, it was also incredibly, as they were moving extremely quickly with wood like platforms that made them look as Mario Bros running on level 1-1.

"The constructs are hard holograms, that are fed through what you collect, that's amazing" Said Amalia, while watching the team approaching.

"I don't think they are ambushing us, I think they are running from the barrier, fuck! Run everyone!" Souza screamed, and they also started to run.

"It's been already an hour?" Amalia asked.

"Yes!" Alexa replied while they were trying to find the exit of the graveyard.

The barrier it wasn't something as they imagined; it was a purple wall, construct by energy who enclosed the playing area as if it was a crib. There was also a strange noise when the barrier was moving, it was the sound of the gears that activated it. Alexa was desperate, she didn't wanted to be eliminated so quickly, Souza was trying to make the team behind them lose but he had no luck, they were also replying with shots to them.

Amalia was trying to check where to run, the next safe zone was in Pleasant Park and it was already a battlefield there. She instructed Souza to stop wasting ammo, the other team wasn't going to make it, but that he save it when they arrive to their destination.

Alexa was having doubts, she never imagined something that technologically advanced existed, a barrier that was composed of hard light, that could engulf and area and kill the people who were trapped. As she looked back the purple colored barrier knocked only one member of the team over, she saw that two of the remaining members try to hide inside a shed that was near them; she noticed that the barrier surrounded the hut didn't affect the inside, she was surprised.

The panorama for the two surviving members of the team was grim, they discovered the barrier won't touch them but any person behind the barrier had an ultimate demise as all the players were injected with nanobots and within the clothing provided there were hidden GPS trackers, so if they tried to cheat the game the technicians in the control central would detonate the nanobots who would produce a series of strokes that would kill any of them in matters of seconds.

Alexa worst fear was dying, and she realized that the organizers didn't left anything outside, so if there weren't any winners they would simply detonate a protocol that would kill the survivors by default. It was a nightmare, it was a nightmare that came true and the world seemed to love it, she could hear the last two members of the other team screaming in agony as they ran away to the next safe zone.


	6. Chapter Five: Tomato Town

Chapter Five

Tomato Town

Palma was covered in blood, she never killed someone until that moment, there were 89 players at that moment. She was in shock as she couldn't believe, she killed someone with her pickaxe, the corpse of the man was there; she assumed that he was abandoned by his team as there was nobody around him.

Tomato Town was a strange scenario, the center of town was decorated with a big pizza joint that had a tomato head in the middle of a pole, it looked like the classical suburbia of the 1950's only in ruins. Let's go back half an hour ago, from Tilted Towers Palma and her team managed to go to Tomato Town extremely quickly, as the carnage was occurring in the biggest set was too much too handle and teams were being eliminated quickly.

They avoided Dusty Depot as well Loot Lake, they were trying to rush to one of the safe zones as quickly as possible and when they heard gunshots and explosions near Loot Lake they decided to not detour and just go as quick as possible. After they landed on Tilted Towers, they realized they made a mistake and opted to go as soon as they can, they realized the players where going to go to areas that would contain more places to find weapons and do a battle royal to eliminate as quickly as possible other players from the competition.

Her team was composed of three men, they were extremely burly and also they were participants of previous seasons. The eldest member of her team went by the code Smith, he was 27, tall and sported a mustache that no mother would let him be near her children; he was the sole winner of the single battles in 2012. Besides Smith there were Jason and Bryan, they said they were cousins and also, they were the winners of the duo's in 2009.

To give a better understanding on how the competition was sorted, it was divided into four categories. The top players were assigned in the solo matches, that season lasted from January to May. Then the duo's. who followed for the next three months until August; then 50 versus 50 who only lasted from August to September, which the main objective of that competition was to sort the players who didn't classified for the solo's or duo's, according to their killing ranking then they will be set to a team in the grand finale that were the Squads.

Squads was a lovely event, teams that could be composed by duos, trios or quadruplets could participate, but also, they could be modified by the organizers i.e. if there was a squad that was a duo, easily it could be added a 3rd or 4th person; the duo couldn't object but they could conspire to kill any additions that could destroy their strategies, Simple as that, even if the player was sponsored by the country they came from to play under certain conditions.

As they were running to Tomato Town, Smith realized that someone was following them, being essentially the strongest and skilled member of the team, used his grenade launcher and aimed behind his team mates while they were running. A single shot, just a single shot, aimed where a rogue person was hiding, killing him instantly. He noticed that his team probably abandon him, and he was trying to ambush anyone to steal ammunition and weapons.

Smith continued running to catch with the others. As soon they passed Dusty Depot, they realized they were in a safe zone, nobody was there, at least not on plain sight. Jason, ask everyone to avoid the main avenue and take shelter in one of the houses that was in close proximity to the south east border.

The house seemed comfy, it had a two story, seemed to be in good conditions and it had functioning electricity and water. It went with the thematic of the game and it seemed that the owners abandoned it but left everything behind. Smith was thrilled to find food in the kitchen, he asked Palma to go to the second floor and rest for a moment, he was going to guard the perimeter of the first floor, the cousins decided to go and explore if they could find anything on the walls of the house as well the attic.

Palma found the comfortable the master bedroom and she found some snacks in one of the night stands, it was a piece of Kit Kat which it was also her favorite chocolate. There weren't any explosions near them. She felt at piece for a moment, she was sitting there in the bed, looking through the windows if someone was getting near.

Jason and Bryan found some ammo and weapons inside a chest on the corner of the attic. They were checking for the next scan of the barrier, but it seemed that it was postponed beyond the 60-minute mark.

"We better give some of the weapons to Palma, she is the weakest link" Said Bryan.

"I know, but we all agree to dispose her as soon as we can, she is a nuisance for us" Replied Jason.

"Do you think Smith will follow the plan?"

"I hope so, because we can't afford a weak person; all of us we agreed to go to the end and we weren't expected to be associated with someone who got lucky on the 50-50"

"That's why we named her the Captain, to make her think she could guide everyone and we didn't give her our plan, just to go with the flow"

"We shouldn't had brought her to Tomato Town"

"The organizers are watching, we can't make this to obvious on the outside, even if the rules say we can dispose the weakest player we still need to protect our image"

"I understand, that's why Tomato Town is the best option. Nobody really comes over here and we can get away with it. Not everyday you can get invited to this event for three years in a row and be a celebrity"

"Right bro"

"Seems all the players are still on the south and east sides. I know some jumped at the very last moment, so I assume there could be a few around here or at least in a close proximity"

"I wouldn't be surprised, according to the scanner there are 90 players; I assume that team we saw at Tilted Towers that were hiding on the clock tower got pulverized and another team bite the dust too. The scanner is not showing any changes that the barrier will be shrinking again anytime soon"

"Neither do mine, we should take this moment to rest"

Palma closed her eyes for a moment, she was exhausted. She need it to sleep for at least 45 minutes, she was happy to be in a comfortable bed. Not even ten minutes into her slumber she heard gunshots, she noticed she was alone in the house, she started to wonder if her teammates abandoned her? She got extremely nervous and decided to hide on the top of a cabined that was positioned against a corner of the door, so if the intruder opened would had some advantage.

Her heart was pounding so fast, it was a moment that she never saw coming, her teammates abandoned her, she was going to die, then the door opened. Palma was covered in blood, she never killed someone until that moment, there were 89 players at that moment. She was in shock as she couldn't believe, she killed someone with her pickaxe, the corpse of the man was there; she assumed that he was abandoned by his team as there was nobody around him.

After she calmed down, she realized that she killed Smith, she killed the strongest team member. She was screaming in horror.


	7. Chapter Six: Death is a Dream

Chapter Six

Death is just a Dream, While Being Awake is a Nightmare

Marley was looking in horror, her teammate was dead in front of her, a bullet in her head killed her. She got extremely angry and with a mere striked she killed the snipper that was hiding on the position behind Kayla. Marley was pissed, she was angry that not even an hour they already lost someone.

"Everyone go!" She screamed as the tower was collapsing. Richard and Mephisto were behind her, they were rushing as they feel their time was going to be cut short. Outside the scenario was worse, they all decided to go to the nearest hill and they had to hide.

"This is fun said Makoto" They all are killing each other for the ultimate prize.

"I wonder how long the game will last this time?" Said Samara.

"By the rhythm, it will be 14 hours from now"

"It's fun how under certain conditions, people will do whatever we set, but overall it's amazing how we can manipulate them for money"

"It's beautiful Samara. The corpse garden, it just makes me excited"

Samara suddenly held Mako's hand, they were feeling emotional to see the carnage. Behind them, there was the board of producers, they were watching the different monitors across the room, just to check on the contestants.

Alexa finally stopped, they ran as fast as they could, they reached Pleasant Park, they quickly realized that a battle happened there, they saw the corpses of two teams laying on the pavement and as soon they could, they took refuge in an old art deco house.

They found two more bodies, Amalia was in shock the teams that fought there where in a brutal combat, as the walls were covered in blood. She quickly thought to dissuade other teams to go in the house, to move the corpses to the windows, but Souza mentioned that it could be a bad idea and that they should find shelter in the attic to recover some energy. Souza noticed that the scanner wasn't working, as if the barrier had a glitch.

"It seems the purple storm faded for now" Said Souza while they were going upstairs.

"The what?" Ask Amalia.

"I thought it was a cool nickname for the barrier, to call it the purple storm, because that's what it looks like, like a storm that is coming towards us to destroy everything on his path"

Alexa giggled as she thought it was a cute nickname for something so macabre. Amalia was concerned that other teams could had followed as she was listening gunshots not far away. The attic was quite open, and it only had two windows that faced east and west; Alexa was exhausted, and they let her sleep first, while Amalia and Souza guarded the perimeter.

Souza was extremely nervous as they got over there with barely a few bruises while other teams perished on the way, he noticed something else that the barrier was off, he thought it could be a glitch on the system, it makes him wonder what was the full purpose of the barrier? He knew it was for controlling the players playing grounds, but that also if they were touched by the barrier they would die.

Samara was watching Alexa asleep, she thought she was quite pretty, quite delicate almost like a doll. She wanted to touch her face, maybe play with her corpse, she wanted to create some ruckus, but she was listening to the producers talk with the technicians on why the barrier was down. In the meantime, she was into some really perverted fantasies, she wanted even to go to the island and interfere with the game.

As soon they were out of the danger zone Marley, Richard and Mephisto sat down for a moment inside a small tool hut that was in the top of the mountain, they were being chased by another group. Marley was furious, she wanted to kill the other team as quickly as possible, but Richard pointed to go in the corners and let them wait, if one of them dare to go inside they will fire at them.

Mephisto covered in the full body suit with the gas mask hid almost on plain, there were some crates inside and he sat almost as if he was a shadow. The plan work, albeit not as they expected, the one who came in was a young red haired, the team that was with him wasn't that far away. They were waiting for him behind the trees.

The guy wasn't that old, barely 17, he was short also and he looked nervous. Mephisto didn't even hesitated, with his CZ 75 he shot him on his throat on a short range, neither Richard or Marley could do anything as they were looking in horror how precise and cold Mephisto was.

The young man was a walking corpse, he was choking on his own blood; he walked a few steps outside the door and fall dead while his blood turned red the green grass. Then Mephisto stood up from his hiding position and ran towards the other remaining members of the opposing team, the bullets falling in the ground were the only things that could be heard. Marley and Richard were looking in fear.


	8. Chapter Seven: Attack of the Tomatoes

Chapter Seven

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Palma was covered in blood, she never killed someone until that moment, there were 89 players at that moment. She was in shock as she couldn't believe, she killed someone with her pickaxe, the corpse of the man was there; she assumed that he was abandoned by his team as there was nobody around him. After she calmed down, she realized that she killed Smith, she killed the strongest team member. She was screaming in horror.

Jason and Bryan rushed to see what happened, they knew their plan to get rid of her backfired badly, and their scare was when they saw their teammate in the floor with a hole that went below his chin and ended on his left side of his cranium. Jason couldn't believe it, Bryan was in a panic shock because he wasn't that strong.

"You little bitch! He was our strongest assets and now you fucked us!" Bryan screamed while holding Smith's corpse.

"It wasn't my fault, he tried to kill me!" Palma screamed at Bryan. Jason was looking extremely worried, because even if him and Bryan were the best in the duos there were still other teams who won previous seasons that they were top notch, especially one team that was composed of two duos who won the previous two seasons before them and were invited to the dead game.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, Bry, cous, we are fucked, our plan got fucked by a noob, I think they are coming, I can spot two teams coming to Tomato Town" Said Jason.

"What the fuck? What plan?" Palma screamed hysterically.

Bryan walked to her and grabbed her face. "Bitch, you were assigned to us, we were going to kill you, I am going to kill you!' He pointed his AR-15 to her, he was crying.

"Quit it, you two! And hide! More people are coming, and we need to redo our plan"

The three of them moved to the attic and closed the trap door, they were hoping that Smith's body would act as a decoy. They heard footsteps, some people talking, doors being open by force. Nobody went to the attic, to their surprise when they were looking at the map, they realized the countdown was again, but to their surprise Tomato Town became the designated safe zone, which it means that it was going to be the last zone in the game where the battle royal would be defined.

They thought they could hide in the attic and wait for the showdown to finish and ambush any of the remaining last teams. They realized than any of the teams that reached Tomato Town would be there to stay and eliminate any competition and there were still at least 20 teams active. Bryan decided to go down to check if it was safe to at least go to the kitchen and grab something to eat, Jason went behind to avoid Bryan to go alone.

The didn't recovered from seeing Smith dead, they walked extremely carefully, they didn't saw anyone inside the house and couldn't spot anyone through the windows, they really didn't check any of the bushes, because that became their mistake. One of the two teams that reached Tomato Town spotted them and they were waiting for them to come down, when they saw Bryan going down the stairs they just sat down and waited.

A small smoke grenade entered the house, and from the big windows they just jumped in. All of them where wearing tomato heads that resembled the ones from pizzeria mascot, neither Bryan or Jason had time to react, Jason worse fear became true as when he was being he realized the most lethal team ambushed them.

The tomato squad walked slowly, they were surprised to see the other member of the team dead, they knew they were missing one person so as soon they realized they attic door was opened, they went upstairs and to their surprise they found the girl that was with the other guys already dead. One of the tomato guys approached her to see if she wasn't playing dead, but to his surprise she committed suicide when she heard the gunshots in the kitchen, she knew she was weak and got lucky because of the team she got assigned to.


	9. Chapter Eight: The Red Hut

Chapter Eight

The Red Hut

Mephisto was walking slowly, he threw his weapons as he didn't have any more ammo or use to them, the only thing that he kept was his pickaxe, he killed a team of 4 and another team of 3 that was lurking the first team he killed only because they were on the wrong spot, he was brutal, he was merciless, his teammates realized they were paired with a cold blood killer.

"We are in big trouble" Said Richard to Marley.

"Also, we have 90% of chance to win this game. What he did was epic, he obliterated everyone as he was dancing, his movements were so beautiful…"

"Sorry for the interruption I think he wants us to follow him"

The two of them walked outside of the red hut, and started walking, Marley opened her map and realized they weren't far away from the only lake inside the Island, she thought it was pretty and it was quite serene, then when she saw the name Loot Lake she realized that it was an indication of the items that could be there. Richard told her to keep walking to not lose track of their best asset.

Mephisto was extremely fast, they were wondering who he was or better say if he was human? They weren't sure how to even address Mephisto with a proper pronoun, and it seemed he didn't mind being referred as he, but he also didn't spoke with them with the exception of gestures. He gestured to get down, as he spotted another team walking below them.

This team was composed by two individuals, two women who seemed short in size, they couldn't spot them properly with the only exception that they had black hair.

Mako was observing Marley along with one of the executives; he was a tall man, almost 6'6, with brown hair and heterochromia, one eye blue and the other brown; opposite to the classic villain voice that was grave and low his voice was high pitch, yet he looked menacing.

"You can go and have some fun if you like Mako, we need to bring more drama, everyone seems to be scared of dying and dying is good for the ratings…" Said the executive,

"You aren't fun Blake… but I been sitting here for too long, I need some action and I wouldn't mind stirring the game just for the funs, besides Blake if I died it doesn't matter? There are plenty of others like me who are just waiting to ascend to hosts" Said Mako with a big smile.

"Then go"

"Tell Samara don't look for another host until she sees a bullet on my head" Said Mako while she was running to the center stage.

"I promise I will…" "She won't even notice that you got shot again"

Mako looked enthusiastic, she even changed clothes to fit with the other contestants, she got happy that she was going to kill but also to conquer her prey, it was truly a game of death in the fortnight.

The Tomato Squad realized they were safe, much of the other teams where still on the run from the goal, which made them the team that had the advantage in location. The team looks was unknown, every time they competed single or in any categories they wore the tomato masks, which let many people believe at first that it was the work of one individual, but later everyone realized it was an organized effort.

Not even the organizers knew their identities as they enrolled without any affiliation to any country and they seemed to have some fraud about their participation, but the executives didn't cared as they wanted the ratings, they wanted the bloodshed.

Mako appeared inside the red hut where Marley and her team where hiding, outside the saw the corpses of the team Mephisto massacred early; she also noticed the barrier was in full effect but for her was nothing, she wasn't implanted with the nanobots that would detonate within the barrier, for her the barrier was a mere prop, something for theatricals and tracking, so she started to move slowly as she was dancing within the carnival of bodies.


	10. Chapter Nine: X

Chapter Nine

X

Amalia was sitting watching the window, she saw some other teams in the distance running away, they were gunned down by another team wearing tomato masks, but the tomato squad didn't stopped at Pleasant Park rather they continued with their march killing everyone on sight.

A couple was walking inside the area, Amalia was still looking, she noticed they were one guy and one woman, she wondered if they were members of another team and the last survivors or they were a team as teams could go between 2 to 4. The girl was quite pretty, quite petit and the guy was talk, dark and with a well-defined face.

They were also wearing some blue jumpers, so she assumed they were part of a team, they started to analyze their surroundings, they saw the soccer field was with some bodies, but they didn't move towards they, instead they shot to be sure they were dead and when they confirmed they walked slowly.

Amalia wasn't sure if in Pleasant Park were more people besides them, they were trying to hide but they weren't sure who was near them besides the couple.

Blake was watching Mako walk, it was almost as she was dancing. "As new generations come, they come weirder, I wonder if it could be a fail on the development process?" He thought. He sat down to watch the other monitors and see how the contestants were doing.

He was on his tenth year with the company, he ranked up really quickly as his ideas of carnage became popular with the viewers, he was even working on a spin-off of Fortnite that would set a group of "survivors" on a more realistic environment and they could even use vehicles instead of walking everywhere. He was poised with the idea but he was having issues scouting a location that could work perfectly.

Mako was slowly approaching to Pleasant Park, she knew she was on a safe spot as much of the players that passed through the map where exterminated by the first wave of the barrier and even so if someone would go near her she would exterminate them in the blink of an eye.

Souza, was using the bathroom as he feel after all that running he could enjoy a little bit of what was left of his humanity. He started to wonder why he accepted to participate? He then realized that he wanted to help his family and his community and now he was in that emptiness in which he didn't wanted to kill but then he would be killed.

He was trying to organize his thoughts, trying to remember everything that happened since they started, they were in the game for roughly three and half hours, he started to think the moment they jumped from the bus and the moment they landed, he remembered seeing all the people almost as if they were a cloud, he then started to hear shots and people screaming.

Then they landed in the Haunted Hills and from there the carnage began for them, as they were one of the few who were in the extremes of the map. Running away he could barely remember what happened, he remembered the two guys who died in the shack and he remembered that they looked they were massacred.

"Damn, I think we can be tracked" He thought.

As soon he stood up from the toilet, he went to check his pick axe, he found nothing, then he realized that they could be traced by something else, but what? What was it? He thought about hidden cameras as they were in a show but as much as he could, he wasn't able to find them because the producers and executives took care of blending them perfectly.


	11. Chapter Ten: Save from the Void

Chapter Ten

Save Me from The Void

Souza heard some gun shots coming from outside the house, he looked over the bathroom window and saw a couple standing in the middle of the soccer field. He knew they didn't saw any of them inside the house as he overheard Amalia and Alexa talking in the next room. He walked to them extremely carefully.

He was wondering who those two were? They seemed to be fearless as they were shooting to the air and wasting their ammo; they continued walking in the most careless way until they were shot by someone in the distance. Souza looked in horror how their bodies plummeted to the ground. Someone from another house shot at them.

He was panicking because that was the moment he knew they weren't alone on Pleasant Park, some other team was already there, they were waiting to see who would make a flaw and go outside. The three of them were waiting to see if someone else would show up to claim the loot from the bodies.

Alexa was debating to shoot the killer of the couple, but Amalia argued that they couldn't expose themselves and just wait to see what would happen. Souza was wondering how the world ended up in such state where these player versus player shows were popular that dictated how nations would develop.

He was extremely anxious as the death game was escalating into new levels, more and more players were getting killed, he wanted to check on the tablet how many people were left, from the 100 people who were participating he saw that only 73 were still alive. He wanted to ask for help, he wanted to go back to Brazil and hide from this nightmare, he wanted to create a change but not at the expense of his own life.

"Souza calm down" Said Amalia "We are being haunted, I have a suspicion that we don't only need to be aware of the other players intentions, but also to the people who created this morbid show, we are being hunted, forced to go to the safe area and fight to the ultimate consequence, us reaching here was manipulated by the executives"

"You noticed too?" Alexa exclaimed.

"Indeed"

"When I saw the people being massacred at the hut while we were running away from the barrier, I noticed they weren't automatically killed but rather something denotated" Said Alexa.

"I thought it could be a tracker in the weapons" replied Souza.

"No, is something else. I think we were injected with something when were doing the medical check-ups" Amalia mentioned.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know, I only know there is something in our blood that resonates with the barrier, the barrier itself is harmless, just some light spectacle to create more tension" Amalia mentioned.

"We need to keep moving, the barrier says that is not functioning, so I guess we are stuck" Said Souza.

"We should use it to move to another location"

"Please no, I am exhausted, and is only been 5 hours into the game play"

"OK we stay here for a little bit more, when we get the update, or we see some strange movement we will go on the run to the next point which will be Loot Lake" Amalia ordered her team.

Out of nowhere a bullet went straight inside the room they were hiding, it took all of them by surprise.

Mako spotted them extremely easy, she was standing outside with a big smile next to the corpses of the couple.

"Damn it, I knew we weren't alone!" Exclaimed Souza in surprise.

Mako continued to walk towards the house, she was extremely confidant that she was going in and be with her object of her affection.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Sweet Madness

Chapter Eleven

Sweet Madness

Blake was a mere spectator, he knew some of the outcomes that were going to happen because they were controlling the actions of almost everyone, they were deciding what rules to implement and what rules to twitch to obtain retains; at the end, Fortnite was a show made for the ratings, to bring the entire world together in a moment of hate.

The socio-economical climate during those days was extremely volatile, the world was again in a cold war and protectionism was in almost every country, borders were closed in theory but then from The Netherlands just after a little bit after the absorption the Flemish region to the Netherlands, DeMol Entertainment summited dignitaries from 35 different nations of the world in The Hague to reach a deal to please the population.

The deal was simple a death game that would be transmitted worldwide , the participant nations would send teams or single individuals to compete, each nation who would send individuals would receive a voucher of investment in which the DeMol Corporation would invest on their infrastructure with the price of them using the natural resources to feed the ever-growing population of The Netherlands.

Countries submitted to DeMol, as the different wars diminished the resources of many nations and people were starving but The Netherlands was striving, over the years more countries united into the deal with DeMol and the teams who joined Fortnite became more and more, making different cycles over the year to see who could compete for glory.

At first it was only a 100 player versus player competing against each other, then came the duos and lastly the teams. The registration was another story, each country held a 100 player versus player classificatory round on the different categories, making the survivors of their regional death games the ones who would compete on an international level every year.

Over the years several competitors went back and won the different games such as the Tomato Squad who each one of them became seasoned players.

Blake was bored as he was the only executive on the premises that year, everyone else only went for a day and eventually left so he was left to take care of the facility as well the staff that controlled the island outcomes.

Samara walked in the room and he automatically switched off the monitors.

"Have you seen Mako?" She asked.

"She want back to the cafeteria or to her room, I don't know"

"I just finished narrating the stream of the last 5 hours but she disappeared an hour ago with the excuse that she was going to the bathroom"

"Just go and find her"

He turned the monitors on again and tried to find Mako, assuming she was reaching Pleasant Park at that moment, to his surprise she was already there and she was creating a ruckus, he was wondering how many ratings they would get by let the co-host interfere?

Mako was excited, she has been obsessed with Alexa since seeing her profile in the classificatory, she always had a weakness for Hispanic women or at least that they look remotely. She approached with a big smile to the house and looked upstairs, she saw someone moving and aimed right away on the second floor, straight on the bathroom.

Souza panicked because wasn't expecting that someone could saw him really quickly, he was scared of going to the window or making any noise, Amalia and Alexa were near him, the three of them were hiding in the upper bedroom as they didn't know where to run or hide.

"Don't talk, don't say anything" Said Amalia to Souza.

He looked at her with fear, Alexa at that moment was hiding below the bed, they were panicking as they weren't expecting anyone approaching where they were.

"This person knows we were here, probably she's been following us since we landed in the island, we are going to barricade the door and we will try to leave to the roof, I don't think there is nobody here besides her" Said Amalia while looking worried.

"Then we are going to fight" Replied Souza.

Mako was walking so patiently around them, planting bombs around the house, waiting for the moment they would lower their guard. Blake activated some of the cameras that were in the house as well inside the room, he was curious to see the outcome. "Why Mako always react like this whenever she sees someone she likes? Maybe we abused her template on the experiments or we ignored something? This is going to be fun" He thought.

"Come on! I don't have all day! Alexa you are there!" Mako screamed from outside.

"I don't know her, I have no clue!" Alexa screamed to Amalia and Souza.

"Don't make any noise!" Souza screamed. A bullet went straight to the window. Amalia covered her teammates mouths and ask them to be quiet.

Mako was walking outside the house, impatient, stalking for any movement. Blake was watching her from the distance, he was wondering whenever the next clone would pop out what story would say? That the implanted memories were just a mere nightmare? He wasn't sure, every single time for the last 11 years all the clones where showing some problems related to neuromuscular coordination whenever they reached age 25, but in the process of aging all the clones showed some form of sociopathy which led the developers of the corporation to research for solutions, but there were none.

"This is the first warning, I am going to make the first shot!" Mako used the remote to explode the first bomb, the left wing of the house where the living room was located crumbled. Amalia gave the order to them to look carefully on the windows and see if she was walking or in the position that she could have an easy shot on the room.

"She is walking around the house, but not staying in one place" Said Alexa.

"On the count of three we will rush to the forest and change our destination of Tomato Town; the barrier seems inactive at this moment, so is a now or never moment I want all of us to survive as much as we can" Replied Amalia.

"I am scared" Souza mentioned.

"I am too, but we need to survive" Alexia replied while stuttering.

As soon as Mako walked to the back side, they started to run on the soccer field, running as fast as they could. A bullet went straight to them. "Souza!" "Souza!" Amalia screamed.

End of Part One.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Dead Men Tell No Lies

Part Two

Chapter Eleven

Dead Men tell no Lies

Blake was sitting watching the game, he let Mako do whatever she wanted but he got bored watching her, it was always something similar as her or Samara would always have a fixation on someone in the competition and as time passed and within every cycle they would get regenerated into new ones, that's the reason they seemed to be stuck in time for over a decade.

Blake stood up from the monitor room, he was tired of being alone and he wanted to eat something down in the cafeteria. The chambers where the executive controlled the outcome of the game was huge, it was the core of the island, it was essentially where the island was built, where the playground for Fortnite was placed, it was an entire man-made environment.

The upper level of the island was composed of the playground, which connected to many tunnels that in case of an emergency protocol security could access almost any spot; all the tunnels led to the Control Floor which had the executive's office and just the different control rooms that monitored the island activities as the contestant vital signs where almost empty.

The second level contained living facilities for the crew, as well a small hospital in case of any emergency by a rogue contestant, there was a cafeteria and it was also the level that connected to the secret docks in case of an emergency escape. The third level was the one with access to only a few doctors who were on the premise, the chief of security and the executives.

On the south side of the island, another team composed by four people survived a carnage in Paradise Spa. Paradise Spa was ambience as a hotel in the desert, it had a ten floor hotel that was only one tower, a pool; next to the hotel there was a gas station and a few houses that emulated quite well the landscape of any X suburb in Arizona or New Mexico.

The team leader was a man in his mid-twenties named McCarthy, he was quite tall and husky but had an amazing range with short range weapons as well fighting; in that short time after landing he and his team survived the massacre on the south east side of the Island, they were extremely lucky that none of the most experienced players landed with them. Their total kills where 23 for the team.

McCarthy was trying to see when the force field was going to start moving but there were no signs that the field was going to be active anytime soon, he asked his team to move and go to Tomato Town. His team was composed of two other guys and one elderly woman, all of them participated in previous seasons and spinoff of the game and they were there to win.

Blake was bored as he was walking down the cafeteria, but his attention got dispersed and opted to go to the last level, the last level had a nickname within the personnel "the white room", as he reached, he showed his credentials to the scanner and went inside.

"Wake up, wake up… You been sleeping and we have to start" He exclaimed.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Who I am?

**Chapter Thirteen**

 **Who I was? What I am?**

"Makoto, please wake up!" Someone was screaming.

"They are coming, they are coming…" The voice faded into the darkness while a loud explosion was heard behind the voice.

Makoto was walking out of the white room, as she just woke up, she couldn't remember who she got there, but she was asking for her mother. Blake told her mother passed away a long time ago and she gave her to the DeMol Corporation for further care. Makoto started to cry and ask for her friend Samara but Blake replied that she was unavailable.

They continued walking down below the aisle until they reached another room that contained an MRI device. "They always wake up in the last state their memories were restored" Blake thought.

"Let's go quickly to another house, the bullet hit me in the hip I just need to find a health aid kit" Souza mentioned to Amalia and Alexa while holding on the two of them.

"Is the force field moving?" He asked.

"No, seems who control that thing is not paying attention or if is a computer who sets the timer there is a malfunction" Alexa replied.

McCarthy on the other side of the island was experiencing something similar, the force field was completely shut down, he knew something was happening on the control panel as his experience on a previous season taught him that the field was manually controlled, so there could be a problem going with the executives.

He wasn't thinking too much beyond moving as fast as he could to the final showdown in Tomato Town, he was in the need of money as well the rest of his team.

Souza was bleeding badly, he wasn't even sure if he was going to survive but he was trying to hold it for his teammates, they passed the body of Mako and he only look at her with some disbelief as he didn't know why he was so obsessed into killing them.

Makoto arrived with Blake to another room, Blake ask her to sit down into one machine that looked similar as an MRI. Mako wasn't sure what was happening, but she trusted the strange man that woke her up from her slumber.

"Don't move" He said. "Is going to make a lot of noise, but you will be fine after it finish, I just need to see if you have any abnormalities after spending so much time sleeping" He lied. The machine only function was to implant memories of the previous clones, they need it the host and additional competitor to continue attached to the show.

Makoto Kyoda was born in the Saga Prefecture in the year 2015, at least the template. As time passed, each clone became defective, eventually developing behavioral issues; there was probably a line of 23 clones over the last 25 years, each one of them used as hosts on different shows around the world until the economical cataclysm started around 2020, after that the new calendar started.

"Mommy… is that you?"

"Yes, dear"

"Where are we going?"

"Some place safe, they promised to take care of you"

"I don't want to go"

Another image hopped… it was the last one, one hour before, the raw image of being killed by Souza, a bullet in the head and then waking up again in the white room… the process was almost done, she was crying, she knew she was a clone, she missed her family, she missed her sense of self.

As soon the process ended, she knew she wasn't the Mako that was killed, that was haunting, she was just one of the many, one of the hundred who died in the name of entertainment. She knew to survive she had to pretend.

Souza, asked Amalia and Alexa to let him stay in bed for a moment, he asks them again to check for the force field as he didn't wanted to be a burden as he knew they could have a chance to win and he wasn't going to be able to walk or even defend himself.

Amalia and Alexa where looking for antibiotics on the other houses, he was happy to have reached so far in the competition with his teammates, which he didn't had experienced on the battle royal minus some practice around Curitiba. He wanted to see his mother again, to see his friends, he knew his time was coming to an end because of a hemorrhage.

McCarthy was being surrounded by another team, he was in the middle of nowhere, still almost on the southside, he was feeling uneasy because for almost 3 hours the field didn't moved, he could see the purple rain in the horizon, beyond the NAVY ships. He didn't know what to do, because according to the statistics he and the other team where the last two on a danger area.

Amalia and Alexa arrived at the same time in the house, they found a few bandages, some surgical knives and amoxycillin, they realized they were too late to save him, there were now 43 people in the competition…


End file.
